'10 in a few lines

2010 being over, it is the time when we all look back on the last 365 days and try to sum up the moments that mainly influenced our existence.

So, I thought that it would be nice to remember and share a list of all the positive aspects of 2010.

• Best moment: the instant when I received my diploma (clichéd, but true)
• Best sightseeing: the view of the Mont Blanc
• Best trip: the Irish week
• Best musical discovery: the briliant guitar duo Rodrigo y Gabriella
• Best movie: Inception 
• Best book: The Silmarillion
• Best show: The Enchanted Flute at Nuits de Fourvière in Lyon
  
• Best acquisition: my current flat

Unfortunately there was no music album released this year that genuinely impressed and for this I hope that 2011 will show an improvement.
I wish you all have an excellent 2011.  

Happy New Year! 

Iconic family animation

Wits: 4.5/5
Story: 4.5/5
Perception: 5/5
Rating: 4.5/5 

I've been wating for some time to see this animation and I finally managed to do so.
The word that could best describe it is: cute.

In a village of vikings that have to fight dragons to survive, the chief's son doesn't seem to be fit to follow the tradition. By accident he befriends one of the most feared of the dragons, and so he discovers all the secrets of their kind and develops a special bond between man and beast.

The kid is very funny, Baruchel really found his character type for the time being. An the dragon really completes his story. By voicing the chief, Butler reminds us of his first famous role which suits him very well; but Gobber is even more hilarious. The teens are a bit clichéd, but OK; Fishlegs being slightly on top of the bunch.

The animations seem perfect, and the dragon drawings really evoke the features and behaviour of breed of reptile. I can't say anything of the 3D but I have the impression that it was also well done.

There is a bit of sadness related to the end of the adventure, but in my opinion this comes up with a touch of originality which is to be encouraged; youngsters should know that everything comes with a price and that life isn't always shinny and bright but even so one should make the most out of it.

All in all, this could be considered an icon in family animation.








Funny - Spoiler Alert!!!

There are some flight sequences that remind of Avatar and its key in 3D experience succes
I know that this king of movie is supposed to be seen as relate-able by the audiences of our time, but the fact that Viking teenagers faced the same struggle as do the ones of our days is a bit too animationous, because they would have started training at 10 utmost and by the age of 17 the most of them would already have a kid
The magic of father-son serious talks is infinite
I thought that Toothless was a female dragon after her jealousy episode against the girl...

Oneiric

At this magical time of the year, I would like to write a couple of words about a magical manifestation of the human brain that has been dazzling me for quite a while. In my non-specialist opinion, it seems to be the most complex activity of the entire nervous system: dreaming.
There are plenty of more or less scientific theories that try to explain its purpose and its meaning, but I won't develop any of them. I only wanted to express my fascination related to this phenomenon.
During an apparent state of almost complete inactivity, there are bits of our being that are entirely awake. First the eyes that swing around whilst closed, and even if the visual systems are shut down, one could live the most vivid experiences of an entire day, and sometimes even remember them. In addition the brain seems to be racing as if a normal activity would be in question. Our organisms are even more impressive, being able to block the involvement of the muscles in the process, thus avoiding involuntary injuries.
A dream would pick random thoughts, people, places, feelings, mix them together and deliver a more than authentic cocktail, that sometimes remains plausible even after waking up. You could end up on a video game quest, with a blockbuster tension, taking place somewhere you'd seen but never been to, being surrounded by your childhood friends who seem to be best buds with your office colleagues and never doubt the improbability of such an exploit.  
At times, one could also find the desired answers to various issues, throughout a dream, or almost die trying to escape one.
There are people who say that the real life is what you dream, and that the dream what you seem to be living every day; and this sound like a cool concept.
Obviously such an amazing phenomenon was depicted in all sorts of art forms, the latest being the movie I consider to be the best of 2010: Inception, which shows that dreams could be manipulated, altered and twisted to serve a purpose. Wouldn't it be awesome to be able to control this really active state of the mind and make it work to our advantage as the body rests...food for thought...
One more thing, the most important aspirations that someone could have from one's existence are also called dreams; should that be a deception for the real life or a spark of hope for the imaginary one? Because for each side there are only some dreams that come true.
So anyone sharing the same fascination?

Ahoy! Trailer crossing the bows!

Some days ago the trailer for the next PotC: On Stranger Tides was released to open seas, so as a fan of Captain Jack Sparrow and a victim of franchises, I'll pass it on too and then speak my mind...

First of all, everyone agrees that the first movie was the best of them all, and everytime a new one is out you just hope that it will return to that initial quality. The third one had a slight chance of doing so but unfortunately this one will surely not make it. I don't know if this is only caused by the arrival of a new director, or just because the whole team couldn't come up with anything comparable to the Curse of the Black Pearl, but there's something fishy about it.
Starting with the whole irony that at first Jack was supposed to be the surprise bonus, who now ends up being the main reason for the cash inflow. The character that really makes the movie today was criticized by the Disney rulers for destroying it back in the good old Aztec Gold days. Moreover, in this trailer the impression is that the entire story is built around him.
Which brings me to the second part, that I must sadly admit: without the two cheesy lovebirds there is no Pirates of the Caribbean, just one hell of an entertaining brilliantly played deranged pirate and his counterpart who has annoyed me from the start (with a couple of exceptions, like the final battle in At Worlds End); there's a major cast/concept alteration, so change the title.
This cast alteration generated another issue: no lovebirds, no romantic theme; no romantic theme, not a Hollywood entrance hit. So they draw out the good looking latin-blooded actress bonus card and it seems to me that they stuck it on Jackie-boy, which is outrageous. Sparrow shouldn't have an obvious female companion(?), and Penelope Cruz even less, she's not the type of character for the movie, silly-mad and really mad aren't quite compatible in my opinion. Plus, I'm still looking for a film where I could find Cruz interesting (some help? and don't say Vicky, Cristina, Barcelona...she's Shutter Island mad in there and not in the good way).
On the other hand Black Beard should do a pretty good job, the role going well McShane's type. 
Thus being said, I'm looking forward to being proven wrong in all the bad aspects listed above, only 5 more months to wait.   

The Extended Introduction before Hell breaks loose

Acting: 4/5
Story: 3/5
Perception: 3.5/5
Rating: 3.5/5

There are apparently harmless concepts that could become as addictive as drugs; one of them is franchise movies, and when you know that one's end is near something will automatically trigger inside your head and that trip to the cinema will become imminent...This is how I end up seeing the latest HP, the beginning of the end.
Splitting the book into two movies seems to be a win-win scenario both for WB and for the fans, who have another chance of seeing their hero. But for casual viewers, like myself, this could be a little frustrating because all the foreplay has been extended and exhausted and what you get is the all annoying To Be Continued... feeling. I must admit that I was expecting the story to be even more monotonous and dull, but there are several intensive scenes separated by prolonged "meaningful" moments reinforced with the appropriate Hollywood-style background music.
Compared to its predecessors, this HP is no longer a kids movie, the audience has to have evolved with the character (not the actor, a couple of years difference). It continues by amplifying the dark and gloomy trend of the other films, becoming more like a thriller with some humorous bits, than an adventure story; this is probably due also to the schism of the contents of the book. 
I've also noticed some strange camera positioning and movements that were typical to amateur-style filming and not to gazillion $$$ productions and which combined with some bizarre dialogs made parts of the (extended) camping sequence weird if not dump.
There's not much to say about the actors, since they almost developed a second nature by playing these characters all their teenage lives, excepting some details (see below). I will just say that Bellatrix freaks me out more and more...
This movie should be seen by those who aren't fans of the book or who aren't interested in the whole movie story not for even a bit. If your last contact with this wizardy world was last year when the previous movie was out, prepare for a rough start, because tons of information will flood your brain, leaving you no time to process.









Details - Spoiler Alert!!!

The worldwide camping was the source of all strange moments, in terms of acting, events and transitions. There are some dialogs that lack coherence, and the jealousy vs. anger scenes inside the trio seem a bit overplayed.
Nonetheless, it was so droll to see a rugged version of a teenage icon.
I guess that all the girls saw a dream come true: Hermione's bottomless bag.
The image that was given to the new organization of the Ministry, along with their true-blood policy, seems to be a nazi hint.

Connectivity on the go...

I'll start this revival with some of my impressions regarding the fore-mentioned cutie.

It had been a while since I was envying all those smartphone owners around me, and when the opportunity showed up I tried to take full advantage of it. So after a long analysis, I settled my mind on the HTC Desire.

 ...and I can assure you that I don't regret it.

Like any other device it has its strengths and its weaknesses, but for the moment it matches all my requests. 

Here's an overview from the outside to the inside.
At first view, its design is very appealing and ergonomic. A great plus is the 3.7" AMOLED Screen (res. 480x800) which renders browsing and media interaction more than pleasant.
From a more technical point of view, the 1GHz CPU enables the gadget to manage heavy multitasking in the blink of an eye. The 400+ Mb RAM is satisfying; a slight weakness being the ROM (150Mb) which limits the amount of applications installed. On the other hand, the micro-SD card allows you to take all the photos and videos that you like and to carry your music everywhere with you, without worrying about the phone's internal memory.
Talking about photos and videos the phone comes with a 5MP camera, so no sharable instant is going to be lost no more; it can't replace a real camera (mainly because of the zoom capacity) but it was never meant to do so.
The real weak spot is the battery lifetime, since I've never been able to make it last more than 2 days during professional usage (email, calendar, rss feeds syncing all day, internet when needed all on 3G+, and several applications...) or one day on heavy duty (WIFI, multimedia, GPS navigaton, photos...). It is true that I never tried to save up power to the extreme, but in that case it would no longer have been a smartphone.
Last but not least is the OS, the Android 2.2 Froyo, coupled with the HTC Sense, which enables you to customize the widgets and shortcuts in the most convenient way for different situations. There are people who accuse Google of enslaving the users' personal data, but in my case that has more or less happened already (I've been using Gmail, Calendar, Documents, Maps, Blogger... for quite a while) and moreover, I think that this is better than being tied to the Apple system, which is basically the same thing...even worse.
In addition, the Market has become a real competitor of the AppStore without having the same imposed exclusivity.
For the ones interested, here are some applications that are worth a look: a task manager (Advanced Task Manager), an antivirus (Lookout), Blogaway (a Blogger Client), Gesture Search, Goggles, Shazam, Google Sky Map, gReader (a Google Reader client), Metal Detector...
For the high-end gadget fans there is also an HD version of the phone, with more looks and a bit more powerful, but for me this one is just all that I needed...not to forget that besides all these, it can call and be called and send and receive messages ;)